A Mardi Gras Christmas Party!

The party started pretty late. The two Johns got stuck in traffic. People came in their Mardi Gras costumes. Mama Butch was wearing a gown that Isabel Granda, a dunzo actress, wore one time. Rudy was dressed as a pirate. Arman was our Panday for the night. There were 3 Zorros too: Jayjay, Rey and Jan.


For a change, we had Noel lead the prayer. After Mimi gave her opening remarks, we had our dinner, composed of a salad, some rolls, lasagna, an interesting fish barbecue, some beef, eclair for dessert, and lechon. The lechon was so good.


As for the hosts, we're 4 this time: Joy, Ogz, myself, and we had a new recruit, Earl--the ex-Maneouver dancer ;oP

During dinner, we started exchanging gifts. I gave my baby, James, his robot. Incidentally, he was my daddy last Christmas. We teased some people (Beng & Franco and Joy & Bimboy) to give one another a kiss for Christmas' sake. Adrian surprised John Wood with his funny gift: a black boxer briefs with "Mr. Tickle" embroidered on the front. Not sure if it will fit him though ;oP When it was Robbi's time to give away his gift, he called out the name of his baby, "Sumpthin-sumpthin pizzas!" We all shouted back, "pizzazz!" He repeated it, "sumpthin-supmthin pizzas". That was hilarious!


The first game of the night was "Dress Me Up, Santa". My team, composed of Rene, Tabel, Beng, Jayjay, and Earl, got John Wood. He instantly became our Santa. We included his gift as part of his Santa costume but the judges didn't like it much. Where's your sense of humor, guys?

John Wood presented his game next. He called out 10 people and asked them questions that Tony (who was there for the party) gave him. First question was related to the song, "Twelve Days of Christmas". John wanted to know how many gifts were actually given. I blurted out "78" accidentally. Sadly, I wasn't included in the game. Bummer! Anyhoo, 5 people got some very nice gifts: Mark received the Video iPod, Candy got a 2-GB iPod nano, Alwyn got the digital camera, Ruthie got a cellphone, and Neil got the other nano.


Arman and Nikki delivered the classic, "Have Yourself a Merry, Little Christmas". They had to repeat thrice and with that, the crowd roared in laughter.

HR presented the "Employee of the Year" award to Arman Jison. So deserving!


In the middle of the party, Chel told me that Joey (from Singapore) was trying to call us. My phone doesn't have a vibrate feature so I missed his first call. Anyhoo, he called Chel a few minoots later and we were able to catch up finally.


Second game was the most enjoyable part of the party. 5 representatives from different teams had to sing a song and let MagicSing decide who the winner is. First contestant was Nikki. She did an outrageous version of "Power of Love". Erwin was next with "Love Hurts". Boy, that guy can actually reach the high notes! Beng was next with a Michael Bolton classic, "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?". She got the highest score. Robbi was hilarious in Celine Dion's "All By Myself". The problem is, he thought it's the Eric Carmen's version that he had to sing. Candy sang "Alone". And Paul was tasked to sing "All At Once". He got the lowest score, 38 ;oP It was soooo funny.

Jon Church delivered his final talk. And I think he also announced the winner of the best costume. I missed it because I was changing my shirt.


We finally presented our dance number, which Earl gladly choreographed for us. I was already tipsy from drinking early so I'm pretty sure I missed some moves. But anyhoo, it was fun and people liked it.


The big winners of the night were Noel who received the flat screen teevee, Butch got the DVD player, and Ruthie got the electric grill. As for me, I lost the only raffle prize that I got: a Globe keychain, money clip, and a gift cheque from sumwhere. Bummer!


We danced the night away. The dancers of the night were Paul (!), Attorney Jane, Bulilit, Nikki, Beng, Franco, Joy, Ning, Chel, Ogz, Tabel, moi, and of course, Earl. Drinks were passed around. I had some of the drink that Nicho prepared... "Mindoro Sling", it was called.


Next was Videoke time. We finally found out how to use the MagicSing on our projector. Maidette delivered a wicked Carly Simon's "You're so Vain". I wasn't able to sing anything because I passed out. It gotta be the Mindoro Sling! I don't normally pass out at parties ;oP